About Us

Mission Statement

The Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Colorado Law School. Silicon Flatirons' core mission is to elevate the debate surrounding technology policy issues; support and enable entrepreneurship in the technology community; and to inspire, prepare, and place students in these important areas. In fulfilling this mission, Silicon Flatirons serves as a source for new ideas, a forum for in-depth discussions and research, as well as a valuable campus platform for the technology community.

Silicon Flatirons pursues three basic goals:

• Elevate the debate surrounding technology policy issues;
• Support and enable entrepreneurship in the technology community;
• Inspire, prepare, and place students in Technology and Entrepreneurial Law.

Primary Initiatives

Technology Policy Initiative
Rapid developments in technology spur economic growth and empower consumers. Innovation policy and institutional design can stimulate or stunt technological change. Seated comfortably in Boulder, Colorado (an innovation hub), the Silicon Flatirons Center is well positioned to attract thoughtful policy leaders, legal and business professionals, and entrepreneurs to discuss the challenges and opportunities of various technology policy issues. The Center's recent initiatives in this area include an Innovation Policy conference, a Patent Conference, a Health IT conference, and roundtable discussions on Cybersecurity and cloud computing.

Entrepreneurship Initiative
Something special is happening in Boulder's entrepreneurial circles, and the world is taking notice that Boulder is a world-class location to start a business. In support of this creative environment, Silicon Flatirons helps stitch together the entrepreneurial fabric for the area's software, telecommunications and Internet startup communities.

Privacy Initiative
Information privacy has emerged as one of the most vital, contested, and important areas of debate in technology law and policy. Silicon Flatirons devotes a considerable amount of time and energy to this field, sponsoring an annual conference on information privacy that has become one of the most important venues for debate; housing scholars at the center of thought leadership on the topic; and training students to become the next generation of lawyers, advisors, and policymakers in the field.

Initiatives & Projects

Energy Innovation Initiative
Meeting the world's growing energy needs in a sustainable and secure fashion stands as one of the great challenges of the 21st century. The Energy Innovation Initiative at Colorado Law brings together leaders from government, law, finance, industry, and academia to address key aspects of this challenge and develop innovative approaches and solutions across a range of sectors. The Initiative builds on the law school's deep expertise in technology, entrepreneurship, energy and natural resources to support research and analysis on the critical policy, regulatory, and business aspects of the energy innovation challenge; training for students and professionals; and an ongoing series of public lectures, workshops, and conferences.

Hatfield Scholars & Research Program
The Dale Hatfield Scholars and Research Program is designed to encourage student interest in public service by providing grants for summer internships in government or public interest positions. It has also been used to support the University of Colorado's New Models of Governance Project (which evaluates technology policy issues for policymakers). With the support of many generous benefactors, the Hatfield Program has become a flagship program at the University of Colorado and has already helped to bring several students to Washington, D.C. to take positions in government and non-profit organizations since it was established in 2006.

Institute of Regulatory Law & Economics
The Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics (IRLE) is sponsored by the University of Colorado Silicon Flatirons Center as a means of supporting thoughtful regulatory decision-making. In particular, the IRLE hosts an annual seminar for state public utility commissioners and staff as well as engages in state outreach activities. In so doing, it works with two related Silicon Flatirons initatives-the Glushko Samuelson Technology Policy Law Clinic and the Dale Hatfield Scholars and Research Program.

Public Safety Initiative
The reliability of public safety communications systems in the United States underpins the faith of the citizenry in its leaders and institutions. Unfortunately, public safety communication resources and technologies trail far behind the innovative, cutting-edge, and cost-effective technologies commercial cellular providers offer their customers. And as technologies change, public safety must adapt its services and become user-friendly. The Silicon Flatirons Center has and will continue to consider the needs and limitations of public safety communications with an eye toward breaking down institutional barriers that prevent public safety agencies from adopting the capabilities needed to make them effective and reliable.

Software Regulation Clearing House
Funded by a generous grant from the Kauffman Foundation, the Clearing House will track the governmental regulation of software development. It will collect in one place information about statutes, administrative regulations, and case law--Federal, State, and, to a lesser extent, Foreign--that either mandate or prohibit particular features or functionality in software. Some examples include the DMCA, CALEA, Broadcast Flag, and proposed Spyware legislation.

Spectrum Policy Initiative
Wireless networking technology is the fastest growing segment in the United States telecommunications market and holds out the promise of providing greater broadband competition, increased connectivity in rural areas, and increased communication density in developing nations that are not able to invest in wired infrastructure. But making this vision a reality entails overcoming three formidable barriers that can only be solved through careful interdisciplinary work that pulls together policy, electrical engineering, and computer science expertise.

Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship | sf@colorado.edu

CU | CU Law | ITP | JTHTL

XHTML 1.0 Transitional | CSS | RSS 2.0